Aleister Black made his highly anticipated return to a WWE ring when he got involved in the SmackDown main event for the Intercontinental Championship.
For several weeks Black has appeared on the blue brand in backstage vignettes reading from his Tales Of The Dark Father book. Chapter 4 was read by Black earlier in the evening in which he talked about the honesty of pain and once again mentioned it being time to cull the herd.
That cull may have already started after Black shockingly appeared during Friday, May 21st’s main event. Apollo Crews was defending the Intercontinental Championship he won at WrestleMania in a four-way match. His opponents were all former Intercontinental Champions themselves in the form of Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Big E.
Big E was able to hit his Big Ending on Crews for the apparent victory before Commander Azeez got involved to break up the pin. After dealing with Crews’ Commander, Big E re-entered the ring to a nasty surprise. Emerging from plumes of smoke was Aleister Black.
Crews then recovered while Big E stood distracted by Black with the champion grabbing Big E’s legs and allowing Black to nail E with Black Mass. Crews then covered Big E to retain his championship.
Aleister Black has been out of action for several months with his last match coming all the way back in October 2020. In that encounter, the Dutchman faced Kevin Owens in a No Disqualification match with Owens able to pick up the victory.
Black’s wife, Zelina Vega, has been rumoured to be returning to WWE in recent weeks. Vega was originally let go in November 2020.